Changes to Parental Leave

Take note of the changes to parental leave brought about by the EU (parental leave) regulations 2013 which made the following provisions.

v  Parents, adoptive parents and guardians with one years service, can take unpaid leave to look after their children. The new regulations extend the period of leave from 14 working weeks to 18 working weeks.

v  Usually the leave must be taken before the child reaches 8 years of age but this can be extended to 16 where the child suffers from a long term illness.

v  If both parents work for the same employer one of them can transfer some of the weeks to the other person.

For details on the other changes and more information on any employment law issue please contact Brendan Dillon on 2960666.

Insolvency service is up and running

There is going to be huge interest to see how the early applications for personal insolvency arrangements (PIA) work out under the new personal Insolvancy Act

The first batch of personal insolvency practitioners (PIPS) have been approved by the insolvency service of Ireland. Any application (PIA) must be conducted through a PIP.

In order for a debtor to be eligible for a PIA the following conditions must be met:

v  The Debtor must be insolvent and there must be no likelihood on him/her becoming solvent within 5 years.

v  The Debtor must be domiciled in the state or have been a resident for at least 1 year prior to the application being made.

v  The Debtor’s debt must be all secured by a mortgage and cannot exceed €3,000,000 (unless the creditors consent).

v  Debtor must have co operated for at least 6 months with the mortgage arrears process.

v  The debtor is not subject to a debt settlement arrangement or debt relief notice. 

v  The debtor has not previously applied for a PIA.

A Few things to note:

v  A creditor cannot be forced to accept a sum that is less that the value of the secured asset – the value is market value less cost of realising the asset, i.e sale.

v  There are certain debts that cannot form part of a PIA – E.g. Family law maintenance payments, Criminal Court fees, damages from personal injury actions.

v  Income/Lump Sum from pension can be used to pay off debts.

For further information on personal Insolvancy issues contact Brendan Dillon today. He holds a certificate in Personal Insolvency from the Law Society. 012960666/0862648280.